Posted
by
timothyon Tuesday June 03, 2014 @12:24PM
from the multi-sim-multi-carrier dept.

First time accepted submitter Viv Savage (3679171) writes "I live in the U.S. but my daughter will be attending college overseas next year (Scotland specifically). I need to purchase a new phone for her and I'm curious what the Slashdot community would recommend. I understand that a GSM world phone supporting 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies would give her the best voice support. There doesn't appear to be a solution for getting high-speed data (i.e., 4G) here and abroad with one phone. Have any worldly Slashdotters figured this out?"

I didn't claim 4G/LTE. I claimed it worked fine. No worse than in the US which is supposed to offer 4G, but forgets to actually attach it to the internet by anything faster than a damp piece of string.

I didn't claim 4G/LTE. I claimed it worked fine. No worse than in the US which is supposed to offer 4G, but forgets to actually attach it to the internet by anything faster than a damp piece of string.

Technical point:

LTE isn't 4G. But since industry was heavily leaning toward LTE, the board recently bent the rules and allowed LTE to be called 4G, even though it doesn't actually offer 4G standard of service.

This line is such crap, the original bar for 4G was set so high that even the first round of LTE-Advanced wouldn't have qualified in many instances due to a lack of sufficient spectrum. In the real world LTE offers a low latency all IP transport which is sufficiently different from 3G technology to warrant a new label and the logical label was 4G.

I'll buy your argument, up until the last sentence. 4G was already a defined technology, which had been advertised to the public as having specific features. Verizon/ATT/TMobile/Sprint decided to redefine the term, but clearly didn't want to try too hard letting their subscribers know the "new 4G network" wasn't the same 4G we'd all been told to expect.

The only significant difference between LTE and LTE-Advanced is bandwidth, all the layer 2-7 pieces are essentially the same. Perhaps some day there will be an LTE-Advanced network that actually takes advantage of the proposed microcell technology to enable actual use of that higher bandwidth, but due to cost concerns I'm not holding my breath. In other words even an LTE-Advanced based network probably won't meet the stated goals of ITU-T for 4G so back in the real world we have more advanced networks that actually advance the state of the art and make real changes to the ways the network is used (ie voice can now traverse the same carrier as data) but without any meaningful label if you follow the strict ITU-T 4G definition.

Mod parent up. The "4G" we have is a marketing term, and no, the bar wasn't set too high, rather, no one wants to really put in the infrastructure necessary to deliver what we once termed 4G. Right now, it's about 3.3G on a good day.

This line is such crap, the original bar for 4G was set so high that even the first round of LTE-Advanced wouldn't have qualified in many instances due to a lack of sufficient spectrum. In the real world LTE offers a low latency all IP transport which is sufficiently different from 3G technology to warrant a new label and the logical label was 4G.

It isn't "crap", it's the simple truth.

The U.S. providers who adopted LTE were eventually allowed to call it 4G in order to differentiate it from 3G. But that doesn't make it 4G. They are different things.

Yes, but Nexus 5 would be better due to proper LTE support. The USA Google Play version has the right frequency support for the UK networks (at least mine worked on T-Mobile).

Side: T-Mobile coverage in some areas is very poor there, not due to the phone. However, if you do use T-Mobile in the US on one of their $60+ plans when you visit Scotland you will get cheap voice, free texts and free data "at 2G speeds" free, which is handy and may save you buying a local SIM unless you need high-speed while you're t

The Galaxy S5 is waterproof to IPS65 standards, in the real world the USB charging cover is a weak point for maintaining waterproof status which is why I'm going with the Qi charging cover so I never have to open the relatively flimsy charging cover.

And even where there is nominal 4G coverage, it's patchy. I live in London, which is supposed to be pretty well covered by 4G, but much of the time I can't get it.

On the other hand, 3G should be fine in Scotland. Sure, a lot of Scotland has no cellphone signal at all, but that's because a lot of Scotland is wilderness. If the OP's daughter is actually studying in a town, the mobile signal should be fine. And there will be plenty of free WiFi hotspots - coffee shops, bars & McDonalds - if she wants to vo

>Nexus 4 is great.Except the battery thermal sensor dies in all of them in the end, causing the phone to randomly power off.2 out of 2 Nexus 4s in my household went this way. The internet is full of people in the same boat.

I suspect that it depends on where you go. My family is from Orkney and I find it pretty well covered when I'm back.

As far as London and Edinburgh seem to feel, we are somewhere around the North pole and have a population of about 25. If its up here, it may be even better covered down south where (self) important people live...

I mean some may talk funny, but since when does that count as a "foreign language"?

Don't go blaming us Brits for treating American as a foreign language. I was in a Chicago book store several years ago and was amused to see that they had the Oxford English Dictionary on the shelves of the foreign language section.

This. It seems like the US carriers pretty much hated 3G and invested more heavily in 4G when it became available.

In the UK, 3G coverage is strong and widespread (assuming your daughter will be studying in one of the cities). If you're daughter is in fact planning to attend one of the more rural colleges, choice of carrier may be more of a concern.

AT&T doesn't sell carrier-unlocked phones (at least that's what they told me at my local store). I recommend getting an unlocked AT&T-compatible phone (that's what I did when I got my Moto X from Amazon). That way you'll have the option of swapping in a Scottish prepaid SIM for cheap voice comms without eating your AT&T minutes. Just an idea.

700/AWS are the main 4G bands in the American ITU region800/1800MHz are the main deployed bands in Europe/African ITU region1800/2100MHz are the main deployed bands in the Asian/Pacific ITU region (note that APT 700MHz is different to the USA's mongrel of a 700MHz band)

Other bands (e.g. 900MHz) are only used very rarely (in this case one operator in Sweden and one in Czech Republic) but also are supported.

Your daughter's main problem will be:a) whether her UK network has deployed 4G where she is (though in the middle of Edinburgh or Glasgow she should be fine). You will find that due to better 3G networks, Europe is lagging behind the US in 4G coverage.b) the lack of 4G international roaming (not many operators let you roam onto 4G networks)c) the cost of 4G international roaming (if allowed) would be prohibitive

Agreed. As a USA based AT&T customer, I had a fine time in Edinburgh over this last New Years holiday with my 5s. I bought AT&T's international data plan and used Wi-Fi when possible, so it really ended up being pretty cheap too. No problem getting LTE in the city, and 3G in the countryside touring castles and whatnot.

Not only does the iPhone have the frequency bands the asker wants, but it is one of the easiest phones to purchase completely unlocked and off-contract in the USA (so long as you purchase direct from Apple). Most other contract-free phones here are still sold locked to the carrier, and generally require several months of paid service before the carrier will provide an unlock code.

Other less expensive options for a world phone would be Google's Nexus 5 or Motorola's Moto G (if you don't absolutely need LTE)

If she is spending most of term time in Scotland, why not ask her to get a phone in the UK? It's a lot cheaper - most of the time top end phones are free on a 24-month contract. Assuming that she is going to Uni and not college - her course would be at least 3 years anyway. Unless, of course, it's just an exchange program.

It's a lot different if you are a student and they usually let you take out a contract if show them paperwork for your university degree course. When I was a Canadian student in the UK, that's how it worked.

The latest iPad Air [apple.com] made some news in the tech circles when it came out for it's 4G capabilities. It was the first time Apple was able to use 100% identical hardware for AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. In fact, baring some stupidity in provisioning departments, it's possible to buy one, get SIM's from the other three, and have a 4-provider iPad in the US.

Based on my reading at the time, due to the power and antenna requirements there were no phones that had the same laundry list of 4G bands. Of course that was ~1 year ago now, and time moves pretty fast in the mobile world. The reason I post this though is the iPad Air makes a killer 4G hotspot, 24 hours of battery life with the screen off. Maybe a 3G world phone and an iPad Air for high speed data are a viable solution? The iPad also is sold unlocked from Apple, no extra charge. Phones will likely have carrier locking issues.

I guess swapping out the Verizon LTE SIM card and dropping in my China Mobile or PCCW SIM cards (China and Hong Kong, respectively) never can work. I guess those last dozen trips that I've done that with my Verizon Note 2 were simply figments of my imagination. Having my local China/Hong Kong phone numbers active, making calls, getting and sending texts, downloading e-mails, browsing the web, using Google Maps - yeah, can't have been real.

for cheapness or both voice and data go for www.threee.co.uk
not only does it have all you can eat voice, but all you can eat data too and you can tether(4gb total tethering) and all phone data unlimited or filtered. mind you a little user agent spoofing bypasses the cap..lol

This is perfect for skype/oovoo scenarios where 4g would help.

Your daughter would be best going to either Glasgow,Aberdeen,Edinburgh or Dundee universities as those will have the best coverage being the biggest places.. St Andrews

When I was in rural Ethiopia a few years ago with about 20 other Americans, everyone was passing around the 3 phones that actually worked. They were all iPhones and all AT&T. My Verizon phone worked great as an MP3 player but that's about it. My wifes sprint phone would crash constantly and couldn't even be used for that (it was a dumbphone) I was told that the only international carrier that would work there was AT&T.

1.) Apple iPhones meet your criteria.2.) Scotland has shit for phone infrastructure compared to the US; she'll get 3G except for downtown Edinburgh and Downtown Glasgow--at which point she'll get 4G if she's on a 4G plan.3.) Phone plans are cheaper here, and you get a variety: Vodephone has the best coverage, 3 has the best coverage considering price point. I would suspect you may not care about the latter though. Americans who send their kids to S

Affordable 3G (big enough data a package, or flat fee) is probably way more useful.

4G just mean that you can in theory use one GB in 1-2 minutes.

Another thing you might want consider is that you probably don't want to be reach able transparently, personal experience show that getting voice calls during the night (locally) just to say Hi is not only expensive but also gets boring really quick.

There's no 4G outside Edinburgh & Glasgow at the moment I believe, but there is good 3G covering pretty much all the Universities and their surroundings and good wifi in the university buildings. If she's coming to St Andrews (statistically likely) there is definitely no 4G.

The iPhone [gsmarena.com] because Apple has enough clout to force all carriers to sell the same model phone. (Only the CDMA model is different.) Consequently, that model works around the world. With most other phones, the carriers have the upper hand and get the manufacturer to make a version customized to their frequencies.

The Nexus 5 [gsmarena.com] because Google did the same thing. There are two versions - a North American version which supports CDMA and LTE bands commonly used in the U.S., and a world version which doesn't support CDMA but adds LTE bands more common throughout the world.

Those are the two I know of for sure. There may be some others too. e.g. The newer Samsung models support both GSM and CDMA for voice, but only a limited number of LTE bands. Find the GSM and LTE frequencies used by your U.S. carrier and in the UK/Scotland, then browse the gsmarena website to find phones which work in both.

I think it's been covered pretty well by other posters. The Nexus 5 would be fine. So would a Blackberry. To me the bigger issue is whether or not 4G is actually available where the lady is staying. It doesn't really matter what kind of phone you have if your area is only broadcasting a 3G signal. I thought it was important to point out those nasty international roaming fees. Perhaps you disagree but it's all good.

Stop repeating lies. Every modern Verizon phone sold in the last 3 years has a removable SIM card. The last 5 Verizon phones I've owned (iPhone 5S, LG G2, HTC Rezound, RAZR HD, Galaxy S3) were sold SIM unlocked with GSM/HSPA world capabilities. Most even work on AT&T/T-Mobile here in the USA as well. Just because Verizon *used* to sell crippled CDMA-only hardware doesn't mean that's been the case in recent history. The Verizon devices are actually the best ones to get nowadays, as they are the only carrier selling factory unlocked phones and are compatible with Verizon AND every other GSM provider in the world.

You understand wrong. A few carriers petitioned the ITU to allow them to market their advanced HSPA+ networks as "4G". This was because they had no LTE network and Verizon was rolling one out. All of the carriers that were marketing HSPA+ as 4G now run LTE networks, however.

A "4th generation" (4G) network is a 4th generation network. Some nobodies making a list of minimum specs for one can safely be ignored because they don't matter. 4G LTE is really a 5th generation network. It should be 5G.

If it is over wifi, you can use Voip providers. I use http://www.poivy.com/en/index.... [poivy.com] and can call free for 90 days and then 2 cents per minute. SMS is also pretty cheap. On http://www.backsla.sh/betamax [backsla.sh] you will see a lot other providers. Be aware that the price of 0 often means for a limited time when you did a top-up of e.g. 10 EUR.

big screens do not make it the "Best Phone" my biggest gripe about my S4 is that I can't use it 100% one handed. It's surprising how much I want to be able to use a single hand while operating a mobile. a 6.4" screen makes it ridiculously large, yeah the Galaxy Mega also has a very large screen. that doesn't make it a great phone imo.

I don't care if it fits in my pocket, weighs less than a feather, is the most awesome thing in the world, that's actually not why I don't like large phones. It's that I hav

are your eyes that bad that you need that extra inch to make the screen readable or something? (See how absurd your first sentence reads now?)

Sorry, but if you're going to attempt to insult me I get to insult you too. fairs fair and all that. Frankly, I can read any site at full screen on my S4 just fine. heck I could do that on my iPhone 4 that I had before. That's not a problem for me.

And to me, not being able to use the phone one handed is a much more massive decrease in usability than not having a b

>A search of 4G phones will be sufficient; plus it will work in Scotland and the USA. If you are going to buy a 4G phone in the UK, you might as well have it unlocked here, before taking it back to the USA, if it is still illegal to have phones unlocked in the USA!

It was never illegal to have phones unlocked in the USA.However in the UK, you can waltz into any skeevey looking phone store and they'll unlock it for a small fee while you go and get lunch.

I've been looking for myself, and one that stood out was the Xperia Z1 compact from sony. My primary issue was the battery endurance, but it seems to be able to get all the frequencies required by 4G..http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_x... [gsmarena.com]

I have it as well. It's compact, although an iPhone 5 is still a bit smaller. I really like the camera button. Press it long, and the camera opens without having to unlock the phone. It's fast, sound is good, even the loudspeaker. Waterproof! But that camera is a killer feature. Camera itself is not as good as a Nokia, but that button makes a real